Cabot lobs CMP lawsuit at DuPont Air Products

January 19, 2007 – Fulfilling a promise from a month ago, Cabot Microelectronics Corp. has officially filed legal action against DuPont Air Products NanoMaterials LLC (DA Nano) alleging that DA Nano’s chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries infringe its patents, including ones for tungsten CMP.

The claim is a counterclaim in response to an action filed by DA Nano in US District Court in Arizona regarding some of the patents. DA Nano, after being denied a license to the patents, filed its complaint seeking declaratory relief and alleging non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of some of the Cabot Microelectronics patents at issue, according to the company.

Cabot said the litigation is similar to action it pursued against South Korea’s Cheil Industries Inc. earlier this year. In May, Cheil filed a motion to terminate an International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation, and cannot challenge the validity of patent claims at issue, Cabot claimed.

“We believe certain of DA Nano’s products infringe our tungsten CMP technology, and we are disappointed that thus far they have refused to switch to non-infringing technology,” stated H. Carol Bernstein, Cabot’s VP, secretary, and general counsel.

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